The October 26, 1965 Cambridge Union Society Debate between James Baldwin and William F. Buckley. Brother Baldwin never ceded his moral high ground in a brilliant oration of pure genius, slowly tightening the metaphorical knot around the necks of the privileged, nonchalant, white men stacked up all about him. Using his gifts of poetry and rhetoric he bests Buckley (who had declared in the National Review his opposition to desegregation) not specifically on points but on the power of truth and his sheer capacity to dwarf Buckley intellectually. Baldwin simply stood, with few hand gestures and let his mind and tongue create the angelic phrases that seemed to waft above like mesmerizing incense. The topic: The American Dream is at the Expense of the American negro. It was Baldwin who got the rare standing ovation. It was Baldwin in a rout. 540-160.
Posted on: Sun, 03 Aug 2014 12:16:40 +0000
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